A Smoking Craft
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Azula Week Day 5: Crossover. Acxa/Azula role swap, bender Acxa finds a crashed spaceship


Acxa swirls the water around her finger carelessly. She looks over at Lotor, the man is still sound asleep in his sleeping bag. She doesn't know how he or any of the other generals do it. She always has trouble sleeping under the stars. They are too vast for her liking. Too open and mysterious.

Yet, she is comforted by the ocean and it's endless depths. She supposes that it is only natural. She is a waterbender, afterall. She pushes deep brown locks out of her face and wanders back towards the rest of her group.

She tries to rouse Lotor who stirs but doesn't awaken so she is left to stare at the sky. She tries not to though, instead turning onto her side and facing the lake, listening to its soft and lazy gurgles. She tries to let them ease her into sleep.

She, for a moment, thinks that it is working.

It might have been that she has gotten at least an hour or two of sleep, but something wakes her. She bolts up with a startled force and looks about their improvised campsite. She sees nothing between the trees, not that, that really means anything with the fire reduced to only a soft orange glow within warm ashes.

She wonders if she should stay still or if she should get up and investigate. Against her better judgment, she gets to her feet and approaches the lake's edge. She draws up what she deems to be a sufficient amount of water and tosses a look over her shoulder.

The water falls back into the lake.

The forest is a light as though morning were creeping in, but the moon is still high and the stars-now duller with so much light coming from the ground-still twinkle.

She fills her waterskin to the brim and makes her way towards the bright blue lights in the forest. They flash and blink rhythmically. She wanders for some time before happening upon the trees. They are snapped and only grow progressively more splintered as she proceeds. These trees, she notes with fear swelling in her belly, had been perfectly erect and seemingly impecable the morning prior. She can't think of one machine-even of the most costly Fire Nation engineering-that could deal so much destruction in such a short span of time.

Acxa presses forward and a noise caught between a hum and a buzz fill sher ears. It only grows louder as moves deeper into the forest. The light is blinding now, she thinks that she should turn back. She tries to keep herself as quiet as she possibly can. Regardless, a small gasp escapes her lips when she sees the large metal craft impaling the ground.

It isn't of Fire Nation make, that is for certain. It isn't Earth Kingdom either and it certainly doesn't hail from the tribes.

She has a sneaking suspicion that this thing comes from the stars, from that vast mysterious place. She begins to back away, but curiosity overrides fear and she finds herself moving towards the broken, twisted metal. It smells of ozone and...and what? She has never smelled fumes like those before.

The craft has caught fire now, Acxa can't imagine that anything inside would have survived the impact. The flames are spreading slowly, so she enters the ship. The lighting inside blinks more rapidly and is a red color, it emits a new kind of buzz. Some kind of alarm, Acxa thinks.

Her head turns in every direction, the make of this ship is strange. So other worldly that she confirms with herself that it is indeed from another world. From the galaxy above. Or a different one entirely.

She follows the craft's hallways until she reaches the pilot's quarters. So far there is no sign of life on this thing, nor any sign that there has ever been any. Acxa shudders. She pushes the door open.

A lonely figure gives a soft and pained moan. She is slumped over the dashboard with a trail of blood flowing from the corner of her mouth and another from her forehead. Her expression tightens in pain, but she doesn't wake. Acxa thinks that her arm might be broken. She wants to help so she gets closer.

But a closer inspection of the girl stops her. Her skin is a shade of soft blue, complimented by a cascade of deeper blue hair. And from under that hair juts a set of small obsidian horns. The girl's fingers flex, clawed fingers.

Acxa backs up once more, for all she knows, that thing will kill her the minute it wakes up. She thinks that it might be wise to just let the creature burn.

The humanoid opens her eyes, but only partially. "TyLee?" She asks.

Acxa furrows her brows. "What?"

The humanoid tries to sit upright but apparent dizziness takes her down again. Acxa can tell that the blood is flowing quiet heavily. Those fumes probably aren't doing her any favors. She gives a soft, almost unheard, whimper and sympathy kicks in.

The space girl is much smaller than Acxa expects, it is relatively easy to carry her away from the burning craft. She carries her a little further still, until she is sure that they will be safe from the fire. When she is satisfied with the distance, she sets the creature down. She takes care to not put pressure on her injured arm. She pulls out her waterskin. "This might hurt a little." She warns before bringing a steady flow of water to the bloodied part of the other's head. Acxa notices her brows knit at the stinging induced by the healing process, but she doesn't make any moves to halt it. Acxa takes that as permission to heal the split at the corner of her lips. "Who are you?"

The humanoid licks at her freshly healed lip before replying. "I'm..." She starts, glancing up and gives a distressed look towards the dying skeleton of her ship. "I'm...I'm stuck here."

Acxa has a response in mind but decides that this is no time for jokes, no less awful ones that her father would probably come up with. "What is your name."

The other girl shakes her head. "Azula."

Acxa carefully takes her wounded arm and covers it with a layer of water-that will have to do until she can get Azula to a real doctor. More dread bubbles up; can she take Azula to a doctor? She can only imagine the reaction to seeing a blue-skinned girl with horns and gold, white-pupiled eyes.

She decides that she will test the waters by revealing her new...friend?...to Lotor, Zethrid, Ezor, and Narti first. She sets Azula's hand down. "Will you come with me to my campsite?"

Azula gives the wreckage another look. "I don't think that I have a choice." She pauses. "I have to go back there first."

"Onto the craft?"

Azula nods.

"You do realize that it is on fire, right?"

She nods again. "I like fire."

"Do you like being on fire?"

"Not particularly." Azula replies. "But I also don't particularly like being stuck…" she pauses. "Wherever this is." She halts her stride. "Unless your planet has a way to get back up there." She points at the cosmos.

Acxa shakes her head, "I've never seen a ship like that before."

"I didn't think so." Azula says. "I have to go back there and send a distress signal. I just hope that the communicators haven't been damaged." She doesn't sound optimistic.

"I'll go with you."

"I don't need your help, human."

"You have already received it." Acxa counters with a motion towards her forehead, which, now, only has a small forming bruise.

Azula sighs. "Fine. Come with. I suppose that I need someone to carry some of my belongings." She pauses, "I'd do it myself but…" she looks at her currently useless arm.

Standing before the burning spaceship, Acxa wants to retract her offer. She guesses that they only have approximately ten minutes before the thing combusts. And if it doesn't do so while they are inside of it, surely Lotor will kill her for this misadventure.

"Are you coming or not?" Azula calls from within.

Now is her chance to back out.

She re-enters the space ship.


End file.
